Type I interferons (IFN) (IFNα, IFNβ, IFNω, IFNκ, IFNε) are a family of structurally related cytokines having antiviral, antitumor and immunomodulatory effects (Hardy et al. Blood 97:473, 2001; Cutrone and Langer J. Biol. Chem. 276:17140, 2001. Type I interferon (IFN) is elevated in several inflammatory diseases and blockade of interferon alpha (IFNα) in particular holds promise in the treatment of a variety of autoimmune diseases, such as human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or Primary Sjogren's Syndrome.
To elaborate on the therapeutic impact of using anti-human IFNω antibodies as well as to assess safety of the potential therapeutics in vivo, functional translational models are implemented through the use of non-human primate systems. Cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) are routinely used for pharmacokinetic and toxicological assessment of human biotherapeutics and the discovery of the orthologous IFNω sequence in the cynomolgus monkey would make it possible to develop in vitro assays needed to determine if cynomolgus IFNω exhibits sufficient structural and functional homology to human IFNω. A need in the art exists to improve current toxicological testing strategies through testing of closely related animal species with human or surrogate biologic proteins.